the moon looks almost exactly like this tonight. see the silver crescent? and the shadow across the face of the moon? that’s earthshine! i learned that last night. how mother truckin’ cool is that?!
With an age of 4.5 billion years, “young” might not seem an appropriate word to describe our Moon. But tonight, you have an exceptional opportunity to see what astronomers call a “young Moon” — a slender crescent visible in the early evening sky. With New Moon having occurred early yesterday afternoon, only 2 percent of our satellite’s disk appears illuminated after sunset tonight. (Tomorrow evening, a 6-percent-lit lunar crescent hangs noticeably higher in the sky.) You should notice an ashen light faintly illuminating the Moon’s dark side. This is “earthshine,” sunlight reflected by Earth that reaches the Moon and then reflects back to our waiting eyes.
i am a crazy lovesick star hound. practically howling when it is crystal clear, the night air is cold, and the stars are blooming across the black carpet of sky. oh oh oh. it is wonderous!
and… jupiter, mars, venus, and saturn are all making appearances in the early morning & night sky right now.
i raced out of my house in my underpants before dawn the other day to try and see venus.
and yesterday i stood in my yard alone looking at the moon through my regular binoculars and it was v. exciting.
but now the astro binocs have arrived. oy!
and they came with a tripod mount. so i hooked them up and tonight i’ll be throwing my head back and see what jupiter’s got up to since last night.
enchantment i know your name.
and also i discovered brian cox and am catching all of his episodes of STARGAZING LIVE over on youtube.
i’ve got stardust in my eyes. i’m stalking the milky way. i’ve lost whatever was left of my mind.
i hope all of this makes sense. because i don’t have time to edit. i have 90 minutes till bedtime and there’s some stars i gotta go look at!
Brian Cox is a bit of a science hero over here in the UK. You may have already heard of them, but if you haven’t, check out his 3 TV series – Wonders of the Solar System, Wonders of the Universe and Wonders of Life. They are fantastic!
I’m with reader Domenico here – nuff said. Just the best.
This is why you are “ma peeps.”
Oh, you do get into some v. cool things! I haven’t done much stargazing except in Hawaii where its so close the sky seems dense with diamonds and I see stars not normally in my hemisphere (Southern Cross, how are you hanging?). Enjoy your new binoculars and thanks for all the YouTube references – I’m going to go look up Brian Cox now.
Prof Brian Cox is a dude – you do know he was actually in a band? I love stargazing live when it’s on here in the UK, in the deep, dark depths of the winter. Have you seen this year`s episodes? Where they chased the Aurora? And who knew about the binoculars? Not me!
O.K. during light hours, you might enjoy The Martian by Andy Weir…about an astronaut who is left behind on a Mars mission. Definitely for the star gazer, it makes you look at Mars in a completely different way. This will bring your night work to all new heights! (ha) I tried to recommend this to my book club and they all looked at me strangely – a book about Mars and astronauts? Try a sample – it won’t hurt…
Best to you, Nancy
I screwed up it’s called “Powers of Ten”. Being a stargazer I thought you might appreciate the video. It’s pretty amazing.
Have you ever seen the video “The Power of Ten”? I think you would really like it.
Mary Ann, my husband is an avid amateur astronomer. As I was dusting earlier I counted 5 pair of binoculars in this house. We have the tripod and REALLY huge binoculars on it. The kind that are so big there is no way you could hold them for very long. My husband also has 3 telescopes. The beginner, intermediate and just bought the ADVANCED version that is bigger than he is and has to be on wheels to pull it out of the garage. Good grief. But, what an amazing thing to see the stars and moon in all their glory. His goal is to get more into astro photography when he retires. My girls grew up traipsing outside at night in their jambes and laying on the driveway to watch meteor showers. God’s handiwork is AMAZING.
Enjoy!
Karen
Holy smokes! Those are awesome binocs. Would love to see the show through those babies.
hi katherine i will definitely keep you updated on how the binocs work out. i got them instead of a telescope because every stargazing site i looked at had a piece of advice i thought was sage: when choosing binocs or telescopes get the thing that you will USE consistently and easily. that was esp. for beginners like me. when i saw how well my regular binocs worked i decided to start with these astro binocs. they had excellent reviews and were inexpensive. i can already see they will be my terrestrial binocs from now on too, because they are so powerful and perfect for dolphin spotting at the ocean. eventually i would love to get a telescope!!!
Here on Hawaii Moku (aka the Big Island), all lights everywhere must be downward directing as to not diminish the capacity of the observatories on the top of Mauna Kea. This results in very little light pollution. Plus there are only 180,000 regular residents, spread over a large area. We have stars here that you might not normally see at all where there is a lot of light pollution. I have an app for my iPad that is fabulous, GoSkyWatch.
“I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night” Galileo
Aloha, Kate
I love looking at the night sky but astronomy is one field I have never explored seriously even tho’ we have an excellent planetarium at the local community campus. I live in the city of Neon light, the night glow from the city can be seen mlles out of town !!! So night stargazing is iffy here at best.
What is the brand name of the Star Binocs? What size are they 10X50? I’m surprised you didn’t buy a Celestron telescope. Being an avid birder, I have Swarovski binocs that I love. Good optics are a must ! But they don’t work well for night sky viewing. My scope is a 20-60 mm zoom but that isn’t big enough either.
I’m off to check out your references to Brian Cox. I did download an astronomy app to my iPhone, but never used it.
Check into Nita Leland for books on color/painting. She’s marvelous and so is Stephen Quiller who works with acrylics & watercolor.
Oh, please, please share how you like those binoculars! I am a night sky watcher, too, but my son has a terrible telescope that really doesn’t work. We are looking for a replacement and haven’t a clue what to buy.
You reflect back to all of us that are earthbound! your enthusiasm is a joy to behold. xox
I think something amazing is happening the night of April 8 with Mars…I’ll lhave to look it up – can’t remember the exact thing. Envy the astro-nocs
The living color book is REALLY good
I enjoy reading your blog because you find all these cool things to get into. Love the stars and love those new binoculars. I could use a pair since I am out in the dark woods and see a lot in the sky. Might make a good birthday gift for the hubby who needs nothing.
Oh by the by- found a book you might enjoy. Living Color by Natalie Goldberg. Have you read it? Knocking my drawing/painting socks off.
Oh do enjoy your new view to the stars!! I love Brian Cox — he is (literally) the rock star of astrophysics, and I always feel like I learn more from men with British accents! He is also quite funny (check out a couple of his appearances on the Brit show QI on You Tube)… I love the night sky, always wish we could see more of it from the city here. Have fun!!
Stargazing is a nightly ritual here. Great views here in the country….and pajamas are the dress code ;))))))) my brain always whispers– “Behold,Kunte, the only thing greater than thyself”.
Missy from the bayou
Have you discovered “Starwalk”, the app on your iphone yet? I share your enthusiasms and love to stand outside and boggle at the night sky!!
Right there with ya. Makes sense to me. Around here, I sometimes hear about the elusive moonbow (like a rainbow, but from the light of the moon), and how it can be seen at a certain waterfall at the other end of my state. It’s on my list.
As someone commented above, I live where the city lights obscure too many of the stars (that and the high humidity). When I travel to Colorado I love to stargaze in and around Rocky Mountain National Park where it’s far from the lights and has drier air. A friend had never seen the Milky Way and she was blown away by the beauty of it in the mountains.
Factoid: Big Bend National Park in Texas is noted for being the darkest national park. So dark and dry is it that the Milky Way casts a shadow there. It’s on my bucket list to visit. The Aurora Borealis is also on my list. 🙂
Happy Stargazing to you!
Love that you love it!
Whatever your rapture of the moment!
Your boundless enthusiasm jumps off the screen and slaps me to attention.
Thank you for YOU! and the joy you bring to so many of us!
You stargazing girl, just made my night. I love lookin at the stars and it’s awesome I’m not the only one who gets giddy and a wee bit crazy for a star filled sky and has a deep love affair with the moon. I’ve seen ‘earthshine’ so many times and never knew what it was called so thank you for sharing that, now I have a name to put with it….oldest dd is way up north, where the sky is so dark, she was hopin and hopin she’d be able to capture some star shots but another snow storm is headin’ our way, can ya believe it????? and all she can see is clouds…very happy you’ve got a good view, enjoy your new ‘sky eyes’ I know you’ll be spending lots of happy hours lookin up.
Have you been to Joshua tree ? Star paradise !
Last night on the way home from church service I saw the tiniest sliver of the moon here in Las Vegas. It was amazing. Thanks for sharing.
I had a 7th grade science teacher who really turned me on to astronomy, and that love has never waned. So great that you got a tripod with your new binocs! The only way to fly to the stars! Enjoy the celestial ride. xo
I saw the Milky Way once when I was 14. It enchanted me and I have been on the look out for it ever since. Unfortunately, I live too close to the city….too much ground light. But still, the Milky Way and the Aurora Borealis are on my bucket list of natural wonders. I hope to see them both one day. I hope you do too.
When I read that you raced out of your house in your undies at dawn, I think I snorted and laughed right out loud. I had a mental image of that and it just tickled me. When you are excited about something, you just can’t hold yourself back, can you? And why should you? Anyhow, glad to read about your latest obsession and your equipment to aid your view of the heavens. I know you’re having fun. Keep on doing what you’re doing. It just might inspire someone else to drop their fuddy-duddy ways and go for the spontaneous. 😉
Foggy here. Has been for over a week. Bah
Oh you inspire deep deep coveting in me! And this line “the stars are blooming across the black carpet of sky” is beautiful.
The wonders of the night sky. I understand your giddy glee! Love the term “earthshine.” I remember the first time I heard it—-it gave me goosebumps.
XO